Patrick Sanders (British Army officer)

Sanders was born on 6 April 1966 in Tidworth, Hampshire, England.[1] He was educated at Worth School, then an all-boys independent boarding school attached to the Benedictine Worth Abbey.[1] He studied at the University of Exeter,[2] and Cranfield University.[3]

Sanders was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets on 23 September 1984.[4] He served as a junior officer in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and then undertook tours in Kosovo in 1999 and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2001.[2] He became Chief of Staff of 1st Mechanised Brigade in 2002 and then became commanding officer of 2nd Battalion the Royal Green Jackets in 2005.[2] In the latter role he managed the transition of his battalion to become 4th Battalion The Rifles and then saw action with his battalion at the siege of UK bases in Basra in 2007 during the Iraq War.[5] On 25 July 2008, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Iraq during the period 1st October 2007 to 31st March 2008".[6]

Sanders became commander of 20th Armoured Brigade in August 2009,[7] in which role he was deployed to command Task Force Helmand in Afghanistan in October 2011.[5] On 28 September 2012, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Afghanistan during the period 1 October 2011 to 31 March 2012".[8] He served as Chief of the Defence Staff's Liaison Officer to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2012 and Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) in March 2013.[9]

In 2014, Sanders took part in the Prime Minister's Cobra meetings on the floods crisis.[5] He took over command of the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division in April 2015.[10] In December 2016, he was appointed Commander Field Army and promoted to lieutenant general.[11] Sanders was appointed Colonel Commandant and President of the Honourable Artillery Company on 31 January 2019, in succession to General Sir Richard Barrons.[12] Sanders was promoted to full general on 6 May 2019 and appointed as Commander Joint Forces Command.[13] Joint Forces Command was renamed as Strategic Command on 9 December 2019.[14]

Sanders was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2020 New Year Honours.[15]